Sunday, 5 October 2014

Introducing Terrible Tuesdays

With four kids under school age, I've been able to cleverly distribute them to day care over the weekdays, so that I am rarely at home with all of them for any one day. They are all at an age where they are highly dependent on me and as such, highly demanding. So there are times when I have them all together that it is just a production line of me going around constantly meeting their needs. Noses need wiping, nappies changing, snacks, meals, drinks need to be organised, the big kids need to be reminded of their own toileting responsibilities. Then there is keeping everyone happy and entertained, plus scheduling in naps for the babies at the right times. All this sort of stuff makes for very hard work that isn't big on the quality time.

Fortunately, my day care is brilliant, and I've been able to arrange it so that I only have two or three children with me on most weekdays. Tuesdays however, I have all of them at home. Up until recently, my mum has spent the day with us to help me, and honestly, we have so many days where we just look at each other and go, 'why is it so hard today?!'. I swear she has felt like running for the hills on numerous occasions after spending half a day with us. So the day was coined 'Terrible Tuesday' very early on and has since lived up to its name regularly. Tuesdays are when someone runs a fever, or cuts their lip open, or when the babies suddenly decide not to sleep as they should do. Either they don't go down at all or they wake up from their morning sleep after half an hour. I hate leaving mum to manage with them when this happens.

To avoid pulling my hair out, I try my best to have plans for Tuesdays. My focus has always been to keep my big kids happy and occupied, and to tire the buggers out so they can chill for the rest of the day. So we do parks, play centres, swimming. Now that I am back at work, Tuesdays are set to get tougher as mum can no longer help as often. So it is an ongoing personal challenge to get through the day happily and smoothly, for all of us. So far, I have only been out to two places where I feel ok with all four kids. From here, it is about increasing my confidence and getting out to bigger and better places without doing my nut in. Wish me luck.

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Thanks for stopping by!

Hi, I'm Laney! I have four kids that include twin toddlers. They are all really cute and really needy. I write about our family chaos and the times I don't get this parenting thing right. Which is a lot of the time! But hey, that's what wine o'clock is for, right?